Space defense, US troop deployments and a “hugely significant” deal with the UK are among Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s achievements during his whirlwind diplomatic tour of Europe and North America.
Defense has dominated his agenda this week in meetings with G7 allies, as Kishida seeks to draw friends closer in the face of growing pressure from China, analysts said.
Japan wants to normalize its “role as a great power,” said Amy King, associate professor at the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre.
Photo: Reuters
It seeks “the kinds of strategic partnerships and defense relationships that are quite normal for other countries, but which have been largely off-limits to Japan” because of its pacifist post-war constitution, King said.
Kishida’s conversations have also touched on trade and climate issues, showing that he is trying to broaden Tokyo’s relationships with its allies, she added.
Japan is “insuring itself against a decline in US capacity, and working to draw other major democratic states into Asia,” King said.
Tokyo unveiled a major defense overhaul in December, and designated China the “greatest strategic challenge ever” to Japan’s security.
“In the past, Japan was able to separate economy and politics,” doing business with countries such as China and Russia while enjoying the security protections of its alliance with the US, said Mitsuru Fukuda, a professor at Nihon University who studies crisis management.
Deepening friction between democratic and authoritarian countries means “we cannot do that anymore,” he said.
Japan is hosting this year’s G7, and Kishida is visiting all bloc members except Germany on a trip capped yesterday by talks with US President Joe Biden in Washington
Christopher Johnstone, head of the Japan program at the US-Based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Kishida’s White House visit was a “capstone” for his security reforms and could offer him a domestic political boost.
US and Japanese foreign and defense ministers have already agreed to extend a mutual defense treaty to space, and announced the deployment of a more agile US Marine unit on Japanese soil.
In the UK, Kishida signed a deal creating a legal basis for the two sides to deploy troops on each other’s territory. Japan made a similar agreement with Australia last year, and discussions are underway for one with the Philippines.
Beijing has watched these and other developments with some discomfort, warning Japan last year against “deviating” from bilateral relations,” but analysts said that Tokyo is moving carefully to avoid directly challenging China.
“Expanding its military network is definitely one effective way to counter or try to deter China,” Japan Institute of International Affairs research fellow Daisuke Kawai said.
However, because the deals stop short of full alliances with mutual defense commitments, they should remain “acceptable for now” to Beijing, Kawai said.
While the overhaul of Japan’s defense policy and spending has been interpreted by some as a break with the past, others see it as a more subtle shift.
The moves could “complicate Chinese calculations on how far it can push the envelope of its activities in the region,” said Yee Kuang Heng, a professor of international security at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy.
However, they “still do not tip the regional military balance vis-a-vis China significantly.”
“These deterrent efforts should not be seen as destabilizing or provocative,” International Institute for Strategic Studies senior fellow Euan Graham said. “Rather, they represent a belated adjustment to a balance of power that has shifted significantly in favor of these authoritarian challengers.”
Before arriving in Washington, Kishida met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa on Thursday, where they committed to bolstering their security partnership in the Indo-Pacific region. They also discussed energy partnerships.
“Canada can be a reliable supplier not just of energy, but of critical minerals of commodities and resources, including agricultural resources,” Trudeau told a joint news conference.
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